Chapter 10 #2
“There is always a choice, Elizabeth. But I beseech you to listen to your father. I know what’s best, and I have lived longer in this world than you.
A woman without protection is in a precarious position.
I would not like to see it happen to you, my most beloved child.
Please, accept Mr. Darcy when he asks you in the morning.
Write to him while you are away and come to know him without prejudice.
Open yourself to the possibility of caring for him and respect the man that he is.
He will take good care of you and look after your mother and sisters. That is not to be taken lightly.”
“Why will we need protection, Papa?” she asked so quietly he almost didn’t hear her.
He stroked her hair and said quietly, “No one knows what the future holds, my dear.” He kissed the top of her head and asked, “Will you marry Mr. Darcy?”
She took a deep breath and shuddered against him. “It is one of the only things you have ever asked of me, Papa. I could not do it for someone I loved less.”
“Very good, my dear. In time, I hope you will come to see you do this for yourself as well.”
Feeling all the weight of the promise she’d just made, she leaned on her father and wept bitter, heart-rending tears.
Elizabeth slept fitfully and when she set out to meet Mr. Darcy, she looked wan and tired. She pinched her cheeks and reminded herself to be polite, then headed towards the grove. Mr. Darcy was already there, pacing near the stream.
“Miss Elizabeth!” He smiled and approached her quickly, taking both her hands in his and squeezing them tightly. “I am so glad to see you.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t come?”
He only smiled in response and looped her arm in his. They walked in silence a few minutes before he said, “I gather you spoke with your father?”
“Yes, we spoke last night,” she answered, her eyes on the ground.
He stopped and faced her, causing her to do the same.
“Miss Elizabeth, you must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” She blushed and looked down, not knowing what to say.
He needed no encouragement to continue. “I am sorry I spoke to your father before you. It had not been my intention.” She nodded.
He took a deep breath and straightened his tall frame fully.
“Miss Elizabeth, would you do me the very great honor of accepting my hand in marriage?”
She took a breath, rose her face to his long enough to see his eyes shining in expectation, looked back to the ground and said, “Yes, Mr. Darcy. I accept.”
He smiled radiantly and raised one hand to his lips and then the other, pressing fervent kisses on her gloved hands.
“Thank you, Elizabeth.” She startled and looked up at the familiar address and he smiled to see her surprise.
He caressed her cheek with one hand, slowly and deliberately, and she grew so flustered she looked all around, not knowing where to rest her eyes, and finally settled on the buttons of his waistcoat.
He took her arm and began walking again, this time pulling her as close as possible and resting his hand over her smaller one on his arm. His thumb rubbed lazy circles on the back of her hand, giving her the strangest urge to swat him away.
“Are you looking forward to the seaside?” he inquired.
“Yes, I am. It will be my first trip and I am quite eager to see the shore,” she said, grateful to speak of something other than their engagement.
“May I write to you there?”
“You may,” she answered quietly.
“And will you write to me?”
She flushed. “If you wish it.”
“I do. Has your father spoken to you of a wedding date?”
“No, there has not been time,” she replied.
“We had discussed the middle of June. It would give you enough time to prepare but still leave plenty of time for us to travel on a wedding trip.”
“June?”
“Do you object?”
She did, most strenuously, but if her father wished it, she saw no other way. She was not ready to openly defy him and run away. What better circumstances could she possibly hope to find through that method?
“It is a bit sudden, but I believe I could be prepared by then.”
He squeezed her hand in sympathy. “I know it is a great many changes at once, more so for you than for me. I shall live in the same house and have largely the same activities with the lovely addition of your presence. You will have a new home, a new role within that home, and only my presence to comfort you when you have long had a house full of family. Georgiana will eventually join us, but I understand that you do not know her as yet.”
She understood that he meant well, but his speech had the unwanted effect of making her want to burst into tears.
How would she do it? Leave her sisters and her parents and her beloved Hertfordshire and go live with a man she hardly knew?
She looked away and blinked rapidly, not wanting him to see her tears. They would do her no good now.
Darcy walked her back to the parsonage and stepped inside to have a word with her father while she joined her sisters Mary, Kitty, and Jane at breakfast. Thankfully, Mr. Collins had been called to the sickbed of an elderly parishioner early that morning, so the Bennet family was left in relative peace.
Her mother was still preparing for the journey and she gratefully sat at the quiet table and ate, looking around her and glumly wondering how many more meals like this she would have.
It was likely Jane would be married soon, too, hopefully to a man she esteemed and could love one day if she did not already. Jane had always been the lucky sister.
Before her mother came down, Elizabeth finished her meal and went to the parlor to meet with Mr. Darcy and her father. Mr. Bennet smiled when she came in and pressed her arm as he walked past her out of the room.
“You may have a few moments to say goodbye,” he said, and closed the door behind him.
Her eyes widened at the sight of the closed door and she turned back to Mr. Darcy, her shock still evident on her face.
“Your father seems to trust me a great deal,” he said, a bit bashfully she thought. But that must have been her imagination, for surely Mr. Darcy was never bashful or nervous.
“I’m sure he would not have given his consent if he did not,” she said noncommittally.
He nodded and came toward her, taking both her hands in his and bringing them to his chest.
“My dearest, loveliest, Elizabeth. I shall miss you while you are away.”
She looked at him in wonder.
“Surely that does not surprise you?” he said with a smile.
She startled and looked away. “Yes, sir, I’m afraid it does.”
“Elizabeth, when a man loves a woman as I love you, separations are not desirable occurrences,” he explained in a soft voice.
She wasn’t sure if he was reprimanding her or flirting. He lifted one hand and kissed the inside of her wrist delicately. Definitely flirting.
“Promise you will write to me, dearest,” he requested in a low voice.
Without thinking, she found herself responding with a soft, “Of course.”
He kissed her bare hand and she felt a strange warm sensation where his lips met her skin. “Safe travels, Elizabeth.”
“You as well, Mr. Darcy.”
He gave her one last look, then escorted her outside where her father was overseeing the luggage being loaded onto the carriage.
“When will I see you again?” she asked. She was curious about the plans he had made with her father and wanted to prepare herself, but he smiled at the question.
“Your father said he will bring you to London a few days before the ceremony.”
She wanted to ask why they were marrying in London and not from Longbourn or Pemberley or even Margate, but she didn’t have a chance. Her father interrupted and then Mr. Darcy was walking up the lane to Rosings.